Sir Robert Mayer
(5th June 1879 to 9th January 1985)
Here I am outside the home of Sir Robert Mayer, a financier, philanthropist
and lover of music. His wealth was matched by his generosity of time and spirit.
Generations of British youngsters, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince
Charles were first acquainted with classical music through the concerts that
Sir Robert and his first wife started in 1923. Queen Elizabeth was just six
when she first went to her first Robert Mayer concert and Prince Charles was 4
He was born in
Germany and was precocious on the piano, giving his first public recital at
just 8. Though music was seemingly his future path his parents insisted he go
into business and they dispatched him to a bank in London when he was 17. He
must have liked British life as he became an UK citizen at 23. Though he made a
fortune as a metal merchant (mainly copper) music was always his abiding love.
He married the
soprano Dorothy Moulton aged 40 and it was at this age when he was on a trip to
New York at a concert he had what he said was ''the experience that changed my
life.'' He was profoundly moved when he and his wife attended one of a series
of Saturday-morning children's concerts designed to fire young people’s minds.
They returned to England to replicate this creating The Robert Mayer Concerts
for Children. These classes and concerts showed youngsters how instruments
worked and how, in unison, they created the magic only know to human world and
not the animal world (music.)
The Royal
Society Of Arts gave Robert a well-deserved nod
awarding him the Albert Medal for promoting music and inviting thousands of
young people into the realm of classical music.
When he was 60
he was knighted by King George VI for the time and money he’d given to the
music world.
His first wife
died but he married again at 100 years old. He died aged 105 in flat 31 in the
mansion block where they lived. He left a widow, son and daughter and lots of
people who may never had got into classical music.
This 5-storey
Grade II listed mansion block was also a filming location. Many outside scenes of
Bertie’s home “Berkeley Mansions” were filmed for the Jeeves & Wooster
series featuring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Apartments are for sale from £1.3
to £3.8 million at the time of writing.
